4.12.08

Oh how cool when I got back on my computer there was an email from emma (misi.co.uk) congratulating me on being selected as this weeks www.misi.co.uk featured seller what a really lovely thing to find in my email. I really like misi as it is just so uncluttered and unlike etsy I am informed straight away on each sale by email.

Oh it feels like ages since I got to sit and write my blog first of all I was really busy then I was under the weather for a little while, I guess that was the only time not owning a television was a down point. I had decided to play with my computer and add some new bits and totally customize my case with fairy graphics and new color scheme, argh the best laid plans.... I was laid up for a week with no entertainment from the outside world and not able to sit and do my computer. I had to miss a craft fair that had been paid for also my first aerial silk lesson and didn't get all my product pictures done eek..But I did get lots of hugs and cups of tea made for me and even had dinner prepared all week by family aww how sweet thank you guys and sorry for being so grouchy.....xx

17.11.08

What is it when a male sees a woman with a power tool they just have to take over even if they have never used said power tool... ummm something which I thought was limited to boyfriends or husbands has effected my son now.. I planned on taking a few days to redo parts of my kitchen namely the worktops and painting. So armed with my snazzy new jigsaw with laser guidance (so you can see where you have gone wrong) I attempted to remodel my kitchen.. A week later I can finally sit down for a while... It went like this....1 plug in jigsaw2 ask a million times for right worktop (no not that one)3 start to cut4 jigsaw taken from me (women dont understand these things apparently (took him 20mins to work it out))5 lose first bit of wall where workbench cut to wide (umm not my measurements)6 first snapped workbench ( i warned them not to jump on it to make it fit)7 lost second bit of wall8 had to redo pipework sons cut out meant sink to far over (i love flex pipes now) no water for 6 hrs now9 first workbench in place minus several chunks of wall10 first breakdown of day when studio roof discovered to be partially broken where workbench strangely had somehow hit it when being taken out of the rafters....Then the mini storm started.............. result.... lost most of roof on studio.... Argh I had a beauty show to do and orders to fill no studio and half a kitchen not to mention the chicken and duck houses to winterise and the million eveyday things to do.. The insurance to fix the roof would take weeks so rather than wait we did it ourselves, we just have a bit to finish now but its safe and drying out..

Awww there's me been desperate to play with my new fragrances and try and finish xmas pressies and I've not made any for 2 weeks now, I think I'm in withdrawal so last night I put the dresses on my Fluffy Fairy Soaps and finished a set of wine glass charms and today until 2pm I'm sitting on my butt felting with not a power tool in sight and definatly not a whiff of male hormones....... When will men learn women seem to work less because we get it right first time.....!! toodle pip...

7.11.08

Today was bath bomb day, more difficult with all this wet weather it makes my house really humid.As well as having the floor mop on constant standby with muddy doggy footprints..But of I went with swing playing really loud on my comp radio and had a really good day.Making the fizzy bubble bars the other day was the same it can set the fizz off..So I'm drying batches nearer the radiators.There's Chocolate Milk Bath Truffles, Snow Bombs, Bleeding Hearts,Surprising Strawberry(shown), Blueberry Blossom and Lavender Spa Balls.Still totally pants at pictures but I have a solution now a friend is swapping crafts with me as she can take nice pictures and she makes amazingly funny cards I'm working on getting her online I think she would have a great time hehe..Oh also today I did some more Shower Jelly Hearts and I even put them on etsy, the enchanted one today has little soap blossoms suspended in it, it was made for my niece kitty, hopefully I'll have a picture that can show the blossoms each I took was wobbly and not the jelly.HeHe must make this a short blog I'm listening to furby and elmo comedy online and it is hilarious but distracting and I need to finish work and get ready to go to kent tommorow..

4.11.08

Well I was not going to write this blog today as I really wanted an early night.. But bless her little heart my daughter is making me a bacon sandwich yumm....So for my friend nigel here is the recipe for the xmas bacon I made last night..1 glass of wineLoud MusicSlipping into something more comfortable

oh sorry wrong blog again...

First of all make sure the pork is well refrigerated, whilst in the fridge work on the cure.

Since this is xmas bacon I cure it in a really strong cure, a bit like xmas cake but with pork lol..So there is heaps of salt as well as* Cinnamon* Ginger* Star Anise* Black treacle* Cloves (for studding)* Brown Sugar* Orange* Bay Leaf* Sea Salt* Black peppercorns

I grind the dry ingredients up apart from the cloves (these are studded into the pork) and bay then use that as a rub and leave for about 8hrs in the fridge.The wet mix is warmed and heated for about ten mins before being left to cool. Then it is poured into the curing box and the orange added .easypeesy pop the pork into the curing box place in cold room (shed) and wait 4 days!!!!! Argh the wait.. Guess i'll have to make soap lol..

When the pork has cured for 4 days then I dry it open for a few days in the fridge ( I use my fridge in the garage that I use to do certain soaps and hang from the top).

Then slice and enjoy....

This is a combination of several methods and makes for a rich bacon that is not very salty at all even with the 4 days cure, we cannot say how long it would last or keep as we have not got past a few days before it has been eaten or my family have nabbed some...

2.11.08

What a funny few days we have had over here, what was going to be a quiet time turned hectic again... Oh and profitable..Thursday was packaging day and designing the new labels I've swapped to vellum after a few misses to start with got the hang of how the printing is not like on my normal pearlesant paper, the results were really nice with a old faded look that is a bit dreamy. I think I may use all the colors I have rather than my first decision of sticking with the antique gold. Then my first surprise!A random text from my bestest friend who has been out of the country for ages, the last time we hugged was in 2004 ah bless.... The text read..... Have you got a bed for me?If I didnt have a bed for him I would make one... He arrived yesterday to spend 2 days with me before he flies back oh how sweet, we made up for lost time yesterday and oh I think i'm slightly suffering the conciquences Ok a little confused at that point but for popping up for just over an hour I sold quiet a few and also nabbed myself a new outlet for my products with the local beautician and hairdresser wanting me to build them a website as well as use and sell my products.... oh fun... The apple of my right eye already knew this but kept stum! For fun we took pictures of the babies dressed as pumpkins for my pumpkin recipe lol.... It was a really fun halloween party with dungeon etc and lots of fancy dress.. It was at Joe Smiths Hair Design at sheering and a lot of the village turned out.. Oh dear I cant upload the pictures at the mo.. I have made a whole new range of bath bombs as well eek..I have seen some fab blogs in the past few days especially laughing purple goldfish and her jumper felting I am going charity shop hunting to try it out.Right now I'm of to cook a massive traditional english brekkie for my bestest pal nigel ...... have a fab day..x

28.10.08

Ok at about 2am this morning while waiting what felt like forever to move my comp files.. little ol me had a brain wave or maybe a total mental deviation...It is supposed to be my intention this week to rebuild my computer (oh the new case looks like its out of a transformer movie total boy racer with so much cooling and fans it will be like having aircon..) I've had a nightmare redoing this one as i cant seem to stop fiddling and reprogramming it (yep actual reprogramming).. The trouble is I start something and then around 3am need sleep.. ah this is the problem after said sleep my memory has been restarted and I quite often forget the bit of genius I had the night before it's not bad as long as i dont restart the comp, if the comp has restarted i'm in trouble as i never finish what I was doing... I have considered just leaving the comp alone and using it as a user but!!!! I cant arghhhh... throw back to when i was really nerdy and geeky...

So to keep my fingers from roaming and messing up my file system i decided to play about with a fairy website idea.. I've not touched this sort of designing for ages and i'm now relearning the process... comments please about the rather graphically laden prototype it's just a bit of fun really.... Well i have a few hours as my zillion gigabites are fully backed up yawn and the hard drive made ready for the new system ( only built this on a few mths ago)..

Me thinks i should package my spa bars before they do that salt thingy and sweat.. Oh and i have to strip my Kenwood as I think i blew the motor making the salted butter, now that i am gutted about, i had planned on french macaroons and marshmallow making later and hand whisking is not an option, so out will come my trusty tool kit and hopefully its just the bushes or something like that and i can repair it (its the same age as me bless so i cant give up on it)..

Oh my fiddling didnt stop with the comp yep i have a new blog template but the probs need ironing out (lol the only ironing I know how to do I was born without the domestic gene).

My son has very sweetly offered to show me how to photograph my products as i am so pants at it and refuse to sell most of them online as I cant make the pictures look as nice as the products.My latest soaps I did are curing nicely but the pictures are yeuk... There's Jamaican Blue Mountain (middle -- chefs soap) Paprika sandlewood and mustard and my aunt's fav just in time for xmas for her vanilla, lemon and french lavender topped with marshmallow flowersOk of to play with dinner OH was baking with me a few weeks ago and he made chicken pies so its freezer food tonight (and every night for at least two weeks I've ran out of room in my freezers) but with fresh roast veggy's... have a fab day everyone xxxx

27.10.08

I am really honored to be awarded this award from Dairy Soap Girl I love her blogs and soap, The rules say to pass it on to 8 people I think deserve the award I really wish I could pass it back as well...

Have you ever had just one of those days where you wish you could get away from it all....Mine normally start with the morning battle of getting the apple of my left eye up for work.... hehe i've even stood at her door when she thinks i'm in my room, what a picture said apple of eye still well wrapped in her covers shouting yes mum i'm just getting dressed....

I had one of those days where everything just didnt go right.... So I randomly booked a flight to france to meet online friends with my bestest girlfriend.. Ohhhh what an experience 2 slightly younger than middle age (we like to think so) women going on a road trip (with a very small budget)....The mission was to land in france and with just an address we were to find a way to travel to our friends rural retreat.... Umm might of helped if we spoke french!!It was so hilarious, me trying to look helpless and doe eyed dressed like a catwalk reject including bright green winnie the pooh boxer boots, next to my ultra classy friend who was fabulously co-ordinated and even pay'd extra on the flight to make sure her make up and matching wardrobe could come with us (totally impressed with what she could pack in her case...) So mobiles switched of we battled onwards.

Oh the freedom of just being able to do what you like with just temporary zilch responsibility (and a bottle of vodka) is sooo much fun.. Fancy not telling me because alcohol is cheaper does not mean it is not as strong...arghhh i'm never drinking again till the next time lol.We had a very enlightening experience with lots of fun thrown in, try belly dancing at 3am in a haunted house ever so slightly tipsy (drunk) I can highly recommend it... But we dont recommend trying to speak to the french cows which wanted to sleep they dont like it.... (we tried to teach them english) The morning after I was so reminded why I very rarely ever drink.

We were made some great food and visited a fantastic little french restaurant which we are considering buying, we need to seriously look at the books though for such a major decision..

The whole trip was about challenge and our motto was.. were grown up we can do what we want... We have both waited so long to be able to do something like this on the spur of the moment .. Both us have been single working mums for as long as we remember and normally it takes logistical planning to do anything... Till now, my two are both working and my friends daughter has settled in uni, and we both have boyfriends to look after the pets...

19.10.08

..... computer in terminal overload (err I tried to get a bit to clever) laymans terms it's a bit broke and I've got to pack for an early flight to france in the morning.... eek back in a week....week in summary..mon*sent gifts for pink party made cinnamon butter.. (daisy girl I will post recipe and instructions on return thank you millions for award) computer started arguing with me..tue*flew to germany travelled to spa on train and buses without knowing a word of german (umm only found 2 english speaking people cool)wed*went to zepplian museum (wow massive floating things) in hogs heaven with all the dirigibles they are bigger than my kites... Paprika octopusthur*made chocolate orange muffins and goji berry muffins... Octopus soup.. made simmering crystals.. argued with computer..Fri*Threatend computer with divorce (no effect reported).. made 3 soaps, sandlewood - parika and vanilla, Lavender/Lemon/Vanilla with marshmallow, Caramel Cafe Latte with jamican blue moutain coffee.. computer went in huff!sat*made unsalted and salted butter.. some freezer food for the tribe while I'm away.. swore and got violent with computer.. beans on toast for dinnersun*rushed about like maniac as just remembered I'm supposed to be in france in the morning and I thought my flight was at 1pm eek... quickly made edible whipped body mousse with shea butter(promised to my friend), take away dinner hehe... made hugo bubble bars umm not much bubble yet... phew that's the basics... hey heads up for the graduation mr soap with balls lol.... really gotta dash now....x

12.10.08

I was all out of inspiration as to what tribute I should write on my sisters memorial site so I had to borrow a poem some one else had wrote... it summed things up well..

A sister is a forever friend.

A sister is a special kind of friend.

As my sister you're a special partOf all that's precious to my heart.

A sister knows everything about you and loves you anyway!

Life made us Sisters,Prozac made us friends.

Life made you my sister,Love made you my friend.

I'll always did my best with my sister by my side.

So this afternoon when I have finished moving all my stuff into the workshop (err wooden garage), I'm going to sit and do 100 little pink favors for a lady on the craft site who is having a charity pink party in honor of her friend. Umm I think that would be a nice fitting way to sit and listen to some music and make little salt bags and remember my sis, she would of loved the cuteness of them and the pinkness she so adored girlie cute things and she would of helped make them if she could.. Love you baby girl xx

6.10.08

When I ordered the shopping it was with Cowboy Beans and pork in mind err ok I sort of changed my mind...Thinking I could do with a lift I made Cowbot beans/italian pork/nutter combe.Slow cooked beans and pork with panetta fresh tomatoes, onions, yellow and orange peppers with tom puree, when almost ready seasoned with Jim bean barbeque sauce a touch of brown sugar put back in oven open with 2 drops of orange essential oil per serving.. oh yummy.. served with creamy jacket potaoes stuffed with white chedder cheese, parma ham, sweet orange pepper slivers.. twice roasted...desert is cooking lol I think this should be winter tapioca, I'm trying to be good with calories so no cream in this one..Tapioca with goji berries... seasoned with cinnamon, mace, nutmeg and vanilla extract.. adding a knob of home made butter at the finish.... err i forgot to make the butter so it's a blob of vitalite....worked on my moaning myrtle soap... more later gotta go get the tapioca (frogs spawn) out of the oven.......

It's been a strange few days, but when isnt it ...A mad morning rush after I woke up on friday thinking (its thursday) oh nice a lovely snuggly bed and nothing to rush for today... Oh how wrong I was, it took a little while to realize it was friday and not thursday and I had a funeral to go to and 15mins to get ready.. This always happens to me I think the calendar in my head is running on a different level.I made it to the funeral and bless dear cousin tony had a marvelous turn out of freinds and family, if you judge a person by how many turns up to the funeral then Tony was an amazing guy (we already knew that though).Little lucy came home with me to have a little silly fun after all the grown up stuff, hehe we had a few soaping accidents and found out caustic soap is a great paint stripper from ovens as well as walls, she did an amazing first soap and bath bombs, me thinks i may have competition coming up lol...To chill out from the sadness of friday Oh and myself decided to pop of in our camper to do a bit of kayaking and kite flying... Well that would of worked if the weather had been kind instead we ended up oyster hunting and picking winkles, which brings me to angels in blankets!I love almost any seafood and wild seafood the best but OH had not eaten oysters and was yeuked out by eating them raw, So I adapted the classic oyster recipe angels on horseback for him.We started by shucking (clever word) the oysters and then wrapping them in parma ham with a thin layer of garlic and herb cream cheese inside, they looked like cute little parcels. I served them on a bed of creamed potatoes, baby leeks sauted with super sweet corn and put the angels in blankets on top finished with a oyster and herb cheese sauce and popped back under the grill. It turned out really yummy and OH now is a fan of oysters...

2.10.08

I thought I'd treat my darling beloved teenage fruit of my womb ( you dont want to know what it is on a bad day).. So of I toddled to the Hair salon suppliers, eek almost a mortgage later she is not kitted out with some wicked scissor holdy things and a zipped apron etc, she hates the things she is supposed to buy so we like to find alternative things and peeve the college of that she does day release with, what the heck she is the one who has to use these things not them and she does have style..Well mummy points earned for the day so it was my turn.....

Oh yum i found the most cute shoes and my fingers slipped to the buy button totally accidently.. well that will be my excuse...lol

Ok of for my first exercises I think I might move onto watching stretching excercises and if i'm daring I might even get to flex my ankles, Then it's hopefully butter bombes...

1.10.08

Yup I did it I made my blue egg soap, yep it actually is blue eggs that I used.My lavender chickens lay blue eggs.. I've tried to take a picture with the eggs but I am no photographer and the flash makes them look more white. I'll try again tomorrow when I am making my butter bombes..I put lashings of castor oil in, well not to much. A few egg yolks and honey, I originally made this soap with duck eggs but they are on strike at the moment probably disgusted by the amount of chicken porn that goes on the garden... I also used Vit E as a preservative for the egg..

With the duck egg it is a really moisturizing shampoo, fingers crossed this will be as well. Since I used blue eggs I decided to jazz it up a bit err coz i felt it... ya know live a little hehe.. This is it at 8hrs ...So back to mental excercising, umm I didnt start my keep fit thing again but I think if I watch enough youtube videos I can mentally do the excersises and thats better than not at all... maybe tommorow...

Well we set of again the weekend just gone to add another bit of the english coast to our travels, we hope to eventually have driven the whole of the british coast that can be driven..

We went beach treasure hunting but there was'nt anything apart from seaweed on the beach we were at ... so promptly pocketing some fine seaweed and depocketing my blooming phone again (totally lost this time so feels like right arm cut of till new sim arrives).. Got home sunday night and decided i wanted to do some sea soap (salt bars) OH's input was no you cant put the seaweed in the soap....err why not?So whilst he was here I did 3 sea bars... naked, honey and honey and lemon.... hehe will do seaweed as soon as it has dried out....

When i started making soap again I swore I was not going to do foodie type soaps, I'm a part time aromatherapy/herbalist wanna be ( may even finish the courses) and naturally i thought that would be the way the soap bubbles went... But alas famous last words have been spoken by bigger people than me...As a silly prank my beloved little friend Hannah Babe entered both of us into the local craft show thing ohh err... I've never entered anything like that apart from the cat shows when I was breeding Persian cats a long long while ago feels like a different life time..

So the challenge was set and i promptly did my usual and forgot about it eek.........2 days before the show panic set in!!!!!!!!The morning of the show dawned and my poor sore fingers and I headed to the village hall, neither my little hannah babe or I had seen each others entry heck no-one had seen mine I was sticking things on in the car on the way...

After spending what felt like ages says yes it really is soap!! I placed my entry and ran!! After taking up spontaneous alcoholism temporarily with the aid of OH and hannah babe...... We nervously crept back in, I could see my entry across the room and there was not card with it that i could see but hannah babes had third place, Aw well I thought we were up against the women institute (bow for respect).. so i just noseied around the other entrants till I eventually got to mine...ARGHHHHHHH there it was a red card !!!!!!!! I only blooming did it .......1st prize for my class oh yeahhhhh.. Now I didnt get the trophy as we had no clue about entering these things and the more entries the more points, the trophy only had one name for the last 10yrs and bless she came third in my class but 2nd in 2 others so on aggregate score she won again.... Oh you know next year I want that cup lol.......

30.9.08

The thing about making my sons fav cheesecake is I cant really eat it, bit of a pain really.. So technically the recipe is followed with a little taste here and there and I mean just a little but it would be nice to have a slice so I know its how it should be.. Well he loved his cheesecake I made him so i thought I'd make one for myself that I can use.. Strange thing about chocolate though I dont eat it but i love using it in body products as its really creamy for your skin..

Ok I've promised myself for a while I'd get a blog but what with one thing and another it was just a a pain in the proverbial...

What with family trauma and building a website I'm surprised I've only got 3 Grey hairs, mind you they are my first and long awaited they have been..

Well about me... umm I'm slightly quirky and eccentric and love making soap lots of it... Oh and I can use all the yummy goodies that I love cooking with but cant eat, well you know the saying never trust a skinny chef hehe. I'm a fully qualified and trained chef but will probaly never work with food full time as i cant taste most of the things i create due to allegies funny i have no problem with them in soap though...

After a really traumatic few months I managed to design my website ok maybe backside first but it was good to have somethiong to concentrate on with no pressure apart from myself.

I finally did it today though and put some of my soaps for sale on etsy.com what a frightening experience my soaps in the same place as some amazing soaps.. I know i have my website and lots and lots of people who have used my soaps but until now it was just me with no comparisan now I'm out in the big wide world and feeling tiny...ohhh